I just felt I was failing, doubted myself in my work and lost my sense of self worth as a dentist, I lost all perspective, I burnt out.

And it looked a bit like this:

Struggling to be upbeat about work, struggling to find joy in my working day

A sense of dread about certain patients or procedures, checking my book and feeling I couldn’t face certain appointments

Being tired, always tired. Not having the energy to be enthusiastic about work

Waking at night and dwelling on cases, potential complaints and what I might have done differently

Having days where I just couldn’t face work, knowing my upcoming book and not wanting to ‘dentist’ today

Over consenting and favouring defensive dentistry.

Over reactive, over emotional. Quick to anger or take offence

Taking minimal interest in the practice, just trying to get in and out

Avoiding work social events, avoiding anything extra to do with work

Having my anxiety levels go through the roof when receiving a call from work on a day off

Getting sick a lot

Struggling with ongoing physical injuries: neck, back, shoulder

Struggling to see myself as a dentist

Beating myself up for not being able to fix this.

It was a bit grim. It didn’t happen overnight and it won’t happen to everyone, but it is a real risk for all dentists.

We can be coping nicely with the stresses of daily life and work, but a single event, or a run of events, can overwhelm us pretty quickly.

These can be external; like a family death or illness, divorce, finances etc.

My top three events related to dental practice would be:

Complaints

Never underestimate the stress of dealing with complaints or threatening complainants.

Even if there is nothing to answer to, complaints can have you second-guessing your abilities, procedures and consenting.

Sure, learn from complaints, make changes to your procedures where warranted but don’t go overboard.

Focus on the 99.9% of patients who you help everyday and how to improve things for them, not the 0.1% who would have complained regardless.

Bullying

Bullying comes in many forms and you don’t have to be the direct recipient for it to change a great working environment into one of suspicion, negativity, taking sides and thinking the worst of people.

Financial pressure

Financial pressure is a huge stress for dentists and it can cause a conflict of interests.

This can be the pressure of running a successful business or the pressure of meeting other people’s benchmarks for monetary value of prescribed treatment.

As a clinician it can be an uneasy marriage of business and health care.

I hope you never burn out, but do look out for yourselves and your colleagues.

Be aware, allow self compassion and connect with your peers.

The biggest turning point for me was regaining perspective, understanding what I’d been through and that I wasn’t alone.

Find out how to rise above stress in tomorrow’s blog.

Emma Courtney

Author at Dentistry.co.uk

Emma works in private practice, Christchurch, New Zealand. A Liverpool graduate who emigrated to New Zealand after serving as a dental officer in The Royal Navy. She is also a personal trainer, nutrition coach and mum of three.

2 responses to “Burnt out? How would you know?”

Great post! A lot of time when dentists feel burn out it is because they are over committed and lack self care. They say “yes” to everyone else, from kids, spouse, to patients, staffs…and “no” to themselves. They take care of everyone else first. They don’t allow a lot of flexibility in their lives. Working with a coach/mentor to gain clarity and set priorities could be very helpfulEmily Letran

Thank you Emily. We’re quite a special breed and think we can do it all on our own but there is strength in community support and talking with someone who’s been there, done that and found a solution. Thanks for reading.